Pierzynski sees Hall taking playing time

But a couple of developments since the 2006 All-Star break have left Pierzynski wondering whether he will have enough at-bats this season to duplicate last season's average against lefties.

The Sox were 31-34 in games started by an opposing left-hander last season. After making the American League All-Star team with a .320 overall mark, Pierzynski batted only .234 against lefties after the All-Star break.

So despite coming off a season in which he batted .295 and caught 132 games, Pierzynski, 30, faces having his playing time cut because of the acquisition of right-handed-hitting backup Toby Hall, 31.

When the signing of Hall to a two-year contract was announced in mid-December, Sox general manager Ken Williams cited the number of top left-handed pitchers in the AL Central and the need to give the roster more balance.

Scott Podsednik lost some playing time to Pablo Ozuna against specific left-handers last season, and manager Ozzie Guillen plans to give left-handed-hitting DH Jim Thome more rest in an effort to help avoid the second-half dip he experienced last year.

As a team, the Sox batted .290 against right-handed pitchers and .262 against lefties. Pierzynski could face the biggest cut in playing time despite his durability and knowledge of the pitching staff.

"The problem is, if you're going to do that, how many lefties are in our division?" Pierzynski asked calmly. "We face a lefty every other game, so does that mean I'm going to sit out every other game?"

Guillen maintained that Pierzynski remains his starting catcher and there won't be a platoon system with Hall, who batted .292 against lefties last season and is a lifetime .274 hitter vs. lefties.

"I'm not going to platoon A.J.," Guillen said. "In the meanwhile, [Hall] is going to push A.J. to get better. It's great for us to [have] somebody who we can really count on with day games [after night games], [against] lefties. We have a lot of tough lefties in our division. And [Hall] will . . . play a lot of games.

"But in the meantime, I'm not going to take the bat away from A.J. When we feel Toby is going to play, he will. It's not easy to catch once a month. We've got to give him some at-bats and find a way to figure how to play him."

Guillen will have plenty of chances to play Hall in the first week of the regular season, when the Sox are scheduled to face Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee and Minnesota's Johan Santana.

And later in April, the Sox could face left-handers Kenny Rogers and Nate Robertson of Detroit and Odalis Perez of Kansas City.

"You read all the quotes about everything, it says, `We brought [Hall] in to play against lefties,'" Pierzynski said. "Santana, Rogers, Robertson, Odalis Perez, Sabathia, Lee and that other lefty (Cleveland's Jeremy Sowers). There are three lefties in every rotation, so we'll see."

Pierzynski attributed his second-half dip against lefties to fewer at-bats. He said he couldn't sustain any consistency.

"It definitely hurts you because then you get the at-bat in the eighth inning with the game on the line," Pierzynski said. "You're going to face a nasty sidearm lefty, well of course you're not going to have success. It's just a comfort level, and you have to see them a lot. If you don't see them, you lose your touch.

"If that's the way they want to do it, that's the way they'll do it. I don't have any say. That's it."